The question surprised me just a bit more than the fact that there was
someone in the house. I was just coming back from my client’s where I’d
introduced Lydia, managed to avoid telling the security guy what an idiot
I thought he was, and found that with my code in hand they had little reason
for me to be there any longer. So I excused myself properly and headed
for home so that I could get ready for the meeting that had been pushed
to tomorrow with Jack on his Customer Management portal. I had barely cleared
the door when Jane had asked it, looking at me over her coffee mug as she
sat at the kitchen table.

I hesitated, then walked over to the table myself, where I dropped my
laptop bag. I didn’t know what to say in response and didn’t want to get
myself in trouble with Lydia by talking too plainly. As I tried to figure
out what to do, I headed for the coffee pot myself and poured the last
of it into the mug I’d left on the counter.

“It’s OK if you think that. You’re both right and wrong.”

I turned back towards her, stirring in a bit of sugar and still stunned
that this conversation was happening. For one, I hadn’t expected Jane to
be here since she and Debbie were supposed to out taking in the sights
at a state park about an hour from here. When that thought crossed my mind,
my slightly stunted social skills latched on to it and I asked, “Weren’t
you going out for the day?”

She’d smiled and laughed a little. “You’d prefer to be eaten by dogs
than have this conversation, wouldn’t you?”

I finally figured out that there could actually be an upside to having
this talk, since I was sure to see more of Jane in the future. She and
Lydia were too close for that not to happen. So I sat down opposite her
and said, “It’s not one I was planning on having. And not one I’m sure
I want to have with Debbie around.”

She folded her paper and said, “She’s out and probably will be until
dinner time. Jet lag got to me and she headed off on her own, which means
shopping. If we don’t remind her to come home and eat, she’d probably be
gone most of the night.”

So I’d taken the bull by the horns and said, “No, I never did think
you liked me. You certainly never gave me a reason to think otherwise.”

She’d nodded as she straightened the rest of the paper up a bit. “You’re
right. I didn’t think you were good for Lydia.”

Now, that particular thought had never crossed my mind but it made more
than a bit of sense. If Lydia and Debbie were best friends, Lydia and Jane
were the sisters that neither actually had. In college, just about every
moment she didn’t spend with me socially was spent with Jane.

I leaned back in the chair and let that one sink in for a minute as
I sipped my coffee. Then I finally asked, “Why the hell not?”

“Don’t get defensive, I’m not calling you a serial murderer or anything.
I can see now that I was wrong. But she told me you tied her up and I didn’t
like that at all.”

At that moment, I was glad for two things. The first was that my jaw
was physically attached to my body or I might have lost it from hitting
the floor with immense force. The second was that I had already finished
the coffee I’d just drunk or there was every possibility that Jane would
have needed to change shirts.

“I beg your pardon?” I managed to muster.

“Ray, you didn’t think she’d tell me? She tells me everything. Well,
she used to. She’s pretty coy about how you two found each other again
and what you’ve been up to since.”

The thought that this was somehow shared information had never crossed
my mind and I wasn’t really sure how to react. Fortunately, she kept talking
so I didn’t have to figure it out quite yet.

“Remember, I was on a semester abroad when the two of you met, so I
didn’t get to know you ‘before’ you started doing whatever it was you were
doing. All I knew was she had a guy and she liked him. I don’t think even
she knew where things would take the two of you then, and when summer rolled
around we lost touch a bit since I was backpacking around Europe.

“So I only got the story from her after your summer of lust. And I didn’t
like the idea. It sounded more like abuse to me. Did she ever tell you
about Alan?”

This one I could at least respond to without too much thought – my head
was still recovering from this entire exchange.

“She mentioned his name a few times, usually mixed with various curses
and prayers that he be in pain.”

Jane nodded and walked into the kitchen to rinse out her mug. I turned
in my chair so I could follow what she said better.

“He was a junior and an asshole. She was a doe-eyed freshman and easily
impressed. You wouldn’t believe the self-confidence she picked up in her
first year away from home because the Lydia I roomed with is not the Lydia
you’re marrying.

“Alan liked his women to do things for him and wait on him and be at
his beck and call. Controlling little snot – he used to give Lydia a hard
time about spending time with me and Debbie instead of waiting on him.
And when he figured out she was smarter than him, he had her tutoring him
in math, which frequently meant doing his homework for him.

“I hated him,” the word hated had a tone to it I was glad hadn’t been
associated with my name. “My dad was an abuser and my mom didn’t figure
it out how to get out of that situation until I was twelve. Alan reminded
me of my dad before he’d get drunk or angry and start slapping people.”

She turned back towards me and leaned against the counter. I was going
to interject something to keep the conversation going, but she didn’t need
the encouragement.

“It took Lydia about four months to figure it out and she was pretty
much a wreck at the end of it. But after she told him to shove off, she’d
started to change dramatically. That strong and confident woman with the
gooey, romantic interior you know finally showed up around the end of the
year and was really in place by the time sophomore year started.”

Having never heard this story, I was both a bit pleased to learn a bit
more about her past and a bit disappointed she hadn’t told me herself.
But then I thought that she probably didn’t feel all that great about having
allowed the situation to happen and certainly didn’t want to be reminded
of the person she’d been then, and I decided that wasn’t important.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

Jane grabbed an orange from the basket on the counter and headed back
to the table. She talked as she walked and peeled it.

“Because I think I was wrong about a whole lot of things and I know
you’re not Alan’s clone now. She’s too happy and too strong to do that
again. And I figure we’re going to have to find some common ground.”

She paused and looked up at me as she said, “And I was the one that
never really gave you a chance.”

Just with those words, Jane had moved up about four rungs on my ladder
of respect. I can be downright awful about admitting when I’m wrong – it
can be like I was confessing to a murder on the record for me. So I was
extremely impressed that someone could say that in such a direct and matter-of-fact
way.

My proposal was forgotten, the meeting a thing to worry about tomorrow.
We talked about our pasts, made some lunch and talked about some of our
dreams and desires. It was getting to be about two o’clock and we’d covered
a lot of ground. We were both starting to see each other in a new light
and figuring out that we really were both good human beings. I have to
admit, I liked the “new Jane” that I was getting a chance to know.

Then the phone rang. It was Debbie who, surprisingly enough, had actually
passed up on shopping to go to the state park. She was calling to see if
Jane was OK and to let her know that she had seen an outlet mall on the
way out and would be stopping by there before heading off to the serious
stores.

I laughed, both at how right Jane was and predictable Debbie was. Jane
hung up the phone and said, “I told her I’d grab a cab and meet her for
dinner. You two have been great and deserve a night to yourselves.”

I suppose I should mention that Lydia had waited until her friends were
in bed before she’d returned to me in the closet. I’d been there close
to nine hours and was really stewing by that point. She’d cut me loose
from the pole and freed enough of me to get me to the bed, where some very
aerobic exercises had gone on both before and after the wrap had come off.
Then she’d told me that she was going to tell them I’d actually made it
to Vegas before Andy reached me and I’d just stayed there long enough to
have something to eat, lose $200 bucks, and get the next available flight
out booked. Then I’d grabbed a cab rather than wake everyone up at 1:00AM
to ask for a ride. So Jane was none the wiser that we’d already had our
night alone and I wasn’t about to disabuse her of that notion.

“As much as you and I didn’t get along, you can’t stand Debbie at all.
We both know it.”

I had to nod – there was no sense doing otherwise. Even when we were
in the same room the two of us could barely get a polite word out to each
other.

“No, I’ll get her out of your hair until about 9:00. Then we can all
get smashed.”

I laughed and commented that I’d be the first one passed out on the
floor and she’d laughed at that too. My lack of tolerance is legendary.

Things got a bit quiet for a moment then, as though we were looking
for a way to thread the conversation before the phone rang back together.
Jane gave up on that idea and asked, “Do you enjoy it when she ties you
up? She did tell me that too.”

I’d grinned a stupid grin, sliding back into I-don’t-know-what-to-say
mode, then managed to force out, “What exactly did she tell you?”

“Just that you took turns and had silly games. Nothing you’d find in
a bad novel or porn movie. She’s open with me, but not that open. Do you
like it?”

I leaned back on the sofa (we’d moved to the living room a while ago)
and thought about how to answer that one. I finally decided that I’d just
tell it straight and let the chips fall where they may. I talked about
the fun of being tied in the first place, how the act itself is an aphrodisiac.
I told her how it was amazing to have someone totally focused on teasing
and tickling and taunting you to the edge of ecstasy but only letting you
go when they felt like it. I talked about how the exchange of power seemed
to make the relationship even deeper, reflecting a trust that you didn’t
often find, even in a lover. And I told her about how the climax to the
scenes could be even more unbelievable when the lust and that exchange
of power finally converged.

She’d listened quietly, nodding sometimes, giving me a bit of a funny
look others. I just let it all pass and told the story as best I could.
Maybe I’d told her too much, but I’d thrown caution to the wind.

When I was done, she’d sat quietly for a moment, then said, “I don’t
think I’ve ever trusted anyone that much.”

At that moment, the phone for my home office rang. I’d hurriedly excused
myself and found Jack on the other line. I put him on hold for a minute
and told Jane I had to take this, then grabbed my laptop and headed to
the desk in the master bedroom. She’d nodded and turned on the television.

It was almost an hour before I was off the phone. Jack had some executives
he reported to who wanted some specific things that hadn’t been in the
original scope and he’d wanted to talk about them with me before the meeting
tomorrow. Somewhere in the middle the other line had rung, but Jane answered
before I even could ask him to hold on. When we’d finished discussing the
changes, I’d told him there shouldn’t be a problem but I wanted to cover
them in detail the next day. We moved the meeting again to lunch time so
that the players could all attend, and that was the end of that.

I glanced at the clock as I headed to the bathroom, noting it was a
bit after 3:00, and then to the kitchen for a soda. Jane turned off the
TV and said, “Lydia called. She’ll be back around 5:30. I told her she’d
have a surprise waiting but wouldn’t tell her what. I think she’ll like
the time alone with you since she sounded a bit stressed.”

I chuckled at the thought of numnuts driving Lydia crazy as they reviewed
the code and architecture and was about to go flip on CNN for a quick update
when Jane had asked, “So can you escape if you try hard enough? And are
your toys in that locked cupboard where I tried to get a towel this morning?”

I laughed at the quick return to the previous subject and said, “Curious,
huh? No, I can’t escape if I want to and neither can Lydia. Well, most
times – it depends on the scene and the way we’re tied. And do I really
need to answer that last question?”

She’d grinned and said, “I don’t just want an answer, I want to see
‘em. I’m curious to know what I’ve been missing.”

I’d looked at her a bit funny and said, “Jane, I’m not going to…”

She responded with a “Well, duh!” stare and said, “I don’t want to have
sex with you and I’m certainly not getting naked for you. You’ve just gone
where I haven’t and I’m intrigued. Particularly since you’d never guess
from the way you two act in public.”

I smiled and produced my keys, and we’d headed off to the hallway. She
made me show her literally everything and asked questions like we were
at the science museum. She’d held the breather gag up with a “What the...”
look until I told her how it worked. She gave the same look over my little
torture device and laughed when I told her how we used it. She’d even triggered
the remote and giggled.

What she really latched onto was the straightjacket, though. It was
new, so new that Lydia and I hadn’t even used it on each other yet. It
was a good leather one I picked up on e-Bay as a bit of a lark when “You’re
driving me crazy” had seemed to be the theme for a week. It arrived the
Wednesday before Jane & Debbie and hadn’t even seen action yet. Jane
latched on to the numerous D-rings on the front, back, and sleeves and
asked if that was a bondage fashion statement.

I laughed and took her back into the living room, she still carrying
the jacket. I pointed to the plants and light fixture and explained you
could attach ropes or chains or whatever to the rings that they hung from,
then to the D-rings to hold your prisoner in place. She’d looked at me
in a sort of awe and said, “You guys can get serious, huh? How’s this thing
feel?”

“We haven’t used it yet, actually, “I’d replied. “You and Debbie showed
up just after it did.”

“Well, now we have to get out of your hair for the night. Can I try
it on?”

The first part slid right by me as the question hit.

“Huh?”

“Can I try it on. Over my clothes, I mean. I want to see what it’s like.”

So we’d undone the straps and zipper and she’d slid into the jacket
as it’s first official wearer in the house. I zipped and tightened and
adjusted, fixing both crotch straps firmly and tying the lacing adjustments
that ran up the sides. It probably was good practice for me, since I might
want to be able to do it faster with Lydia. She’d held still and pretty
quiet except for a “No ideas, mister,” when I’d gone to buckle the crotch
straps. Then I remembered a flaw in the design that I knew how to fix.

“Be right back – there’s one more thing to make it really inescapable.”
She’d just grinned and struggled a little bit.

I went back to the toys and returned with a short and thin leather strap.
This particular straight jacket didn’t have a strap to pin the arms to
the wearer’s belly, and I figured that with enough pulling someone could
get their arms over their head and maybe escape. That strap plus the D-rings
down the front plus D-rings on the sleeves ended that particular option
for good.

“Now you’re dressed for success,” I told her. She’d taken the hint and
started to struggle for all she was worth. While Jane’s attractive and
I am a man, but I’m proud to say that I didn’t get turned on by watching
her try to get free. At least, not until I pictured Lydia in the same position.
I took some pride in that as I sat down to let Jane do her thing. She finally
gave up and said, “Let me out?”

So I obliged. As I did, she noticed that I had managed to get little
excited and started to scold me. But when I told her what had really happened
she’d gotten quiet for a moment before saying. “That’s OK, then.”

The jacket came off and she fanned herself. “It gets warm in there.”

I laughed as I turned to take it back to the other toys. Lydia was due
in about an hour and I didn’t think her finding us doing this was necessarily
what she’d like. Then Jane had surprised me again.

“You want to try it on?”

That stopped me. I’d been dying to get strapped into the thing since
it arrived but the timing was just plain wrong and Lydia had wanted to
use wrap the day they’d shown up. I turned around to say something and
she said, “Oh, come on. I’ll bet you're dying to. Take off your shirt so
I’m not getting you sweaty and stinky for my friend and I’ll fix you up
for a bit.”

I didn’t need to be asked twice. I took off my shirt and walked back
over and we’d fitted the jacket around me. I’d been worried that one size
would work for Lydia and I both, but Jane was just a bit taller than she
and a bit shorter than I, and it’d fit very well. A little bit of room
in the arms, but not much. Now I learned that it was a good fit for me
as well. The fact that I don’t have breasts protruding from my chests and
there were so many adjustments made it work. Nine straps and two sets of
laces later, I was stuck.

“So is it safe for you to be gagged while you’re tied up? What if something’s
going wrong?”

I told her about safewords and humming a song. She giggled a bit and
asked, “Do the gags really work? That breather thing looks like you could
spit it out if you really wanted to.”

That led to an explanation about the half rolls of wrap and she’d nodded.
Then she’d gone and returned with the breather and one of the rolls.

“Can I try it on you? I’m dying to know what it sounds like when you
talk.”

So suddenly I was standing in the middle of my living room in the new
straightjacket and gagged. I was starting to get excited, but with no Lydia
about it wasn’t the same. I grunted and gurgled for Jane and she’d laughed
at how silly it sounded, then said, “Let me get a good look at you. I’m
beginning to understand the turn-on.”

I glanced at the clock and noted that it was 4:55. I’d need to get free
soon if I was going to make dinner, but I wasn’t worried. Jane had circled
me once and was on her second trip when I felt the handcuffs snap around
my foot. Before I could react properly, the other was secured as well.
She walked back into my field of view.

“I’ll tell you a secret, Ray. One that even Lydia doesn’t know. Part
of the reason I was so standoffish is I was a bit disappointed I hadn’t
met you myself.”

I pulled mightily at the jacket then, figuring she’d gone around the
bend somehow. She must have figured that out and she laughed, taking my
head in her hands.

“Don’t worry, hun. I’m not stalking you and out to use you for myself.
I just promised Lydia a surprise and you’re going to be it. I’d never do
anything to screw things up between you.”

That calmed me down, though I still wasn’t sure I liked where this was
going. She went back to the hall and returned with rope, thigh and ankle
cuffs, and a blindfold in her hands. The light fixture was removed from
the ceiling ring and she moved me back underneath it. Then she’d tied the
rope through the D-rings at my shoulders and up through the ring where
she tied it off, using a kitchen chair as a ladder. While she did this,
she spoke to me.

“You’re an excellent teacher, Ray. You ought to consider that if the
consulting career gets too boring or hectic for you. Just a few hours and
I think I already know enough to do this right.”

Then she’d undone the crotch straps and reached for my belt and I knew
she was, indeed, a very quick study. I couldn’t move much due to the rope
and if I just tried falling to the floor to get out of the jacket with
the straps undone, I might choke on the collar strap. If I lifted my arms,
she could just grab the crotch straps and hold the front of the jacket
down if the rope didn’t prevent me from getting my arms up high enough.

So I’d had to stand there as she undid my pants and slid them down to
my knees, followed by my underwear. Mr. Happy wasn’t as hard as if Lydia
was here, but he was showing interest. She ignored him except to make sure
he wasn’t crushed as she re-secured the crotch straps.

The thigh cuffs were next, each of which were locked with a small brass
padlock from out of her pocket. Then the handcuffs at my ankles had come
off and she’d gotten rid of shoes, socks, pants, and underwear. Ankle cuffs
followed and were also locked on. Then she’d surprised the hell out of
me. My implement of torture appeared.

“I think Lydia will forgive me for what I’m about to do. I hope you
will.”

She wrapped it in the plastic wrap like I explained, then secured it
to my semi-rigid shaft. I held very still, not quite convinced she’d meant
what she’d said before, but not worried enough to cause a ruckus. She stood
back a moment, then made a circle around me.

“You know, I can see the fun in doing this to someone. You’re royally
screwed if I want you to be, aren’t you?”

Then she’d laughed and said, “Or royally not screwed if that’s the choice,
huh?”

She reappeared on my left and said, “I won’t leave you alone long. That
wouldn’t be safe. It’s about 5:15 right now, let’s see where she is, shall
we?”

She grabbed the phone and dialed. Once again, I got one side of a conversation.

“Hey, hun. Where are you? About ten minutes away? Great. No, things
are fine here. I just have something cooking and wanted to time things
right. No, no I don’t need anything and you don’t need to rush. The surprise?
Not until you get here. I’d give the phone to Ray but somebody named Jack
called and he’s a bit busy now. Yeah, I’ll tell him. Right. See ya!”

She hung up and grinned as she tidied up a bit and grabbed my keys and
her purse. She wrote a note and continuously ignored my grunts and groans.
She’d been off the phone with Lydia for about six minutes when she walked
back over to me, smiling.

“You never used your safeword, Ray. So I was free to do what I wanted,
right?”

She smiled as she walked towards the garage with the vibrator remote,
note, and car keys in hand. I couldn’t do anything but stand there. It
was just a few minutes after I heard the garage door close from her departure
that it opened again. And then just a minute more before Lydia walked into
view through the kitchen with the note and remote in hand to catch sight
of me. I struggled madly as she looked at me, more than a bit confused.
I was trying to explain through the gag and completely failing to do so.
Then she’d started to laugh. She put down her purse and computer case,
triggered the remote, and walked over to me.

She held the paper to my face so I could read:

“Lydia,

You’re right, Ray’s great. He’s also a bit of a sucker. I’ve left you
a toy, but I didn’t play with it myself. I’ll take care of Debbie and keep
her out until at least 10:00. I’ll call before we head back just in case.

Tell Ray this was the best present I could think to give you, but I’ll
find something more conventional for the shower.

Jane.”

27.02.05

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